


10, Downing Street

by CalamithyJane (Cacilie_Blaas)



Category: Love Actually (2003), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cacilie_Blaas/pseuds/CalamithyJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love Actually Remix for the Rumbelle Secret Santa 2013. Gift for the wonderful Suz, aka angerwasallihad !<br/>Belle French is 'enjoying' her first days as the lovely assistant of Mr. Gold, the new Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Wei attends her best friend's wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	10, Downing Street

He had succeeded. Comfortably installed within the cream leather interior of the official state limousine leading him to its new home, Rumford A. Gold was savoring his victory. One hour ago, he indulged in the tradition and announced to the country, and the world, that he had kissed the hands of the reigning monarch and officially became the new Prime Minister. The journey wasn’t long but he couldn’t stop himself from checking his watch every minutes. If he strained his ears, he could hear the roar of motorcycles following his vehicle as he spotted the first flash coming from the journalists already in place 10 Downing Street.  
Thought he hadn’t been ecstatic in ages, Gold covered the feeling with a straight face: his years working as lawyer, and then for the Queen, perfected it. His first step outside the car was met with more ostentatious effervescence coming from the cameras than he expected and a cunning smile blossomed on his face.  
He straightened, tightening his grip on the golden handled cane, it never left his right hand, and strode across the crowd of reporters until the varnished black door displaying the number 10 was close enough to touch. The brass plate bearing the title of "First Lord of the Treasury" was staring back at him. The new name weighted lovingly his shoulders.  
Silence fell.  
The Prime Minister had stepped inside and closed his door to the scrutiny of the outside word.

—

The discreet click of the camera shutter being closed turned out to be comforting: it would be over soon. Dragging her eyes off the beautifully decorated reception hall and her newlywed friends dancing, Wei adjusted the Peter Pan collar of her orange dress before balling her fists. She would resent Phillip for his choice of clothing concerning the bridesmaids and make him regret it. Only, not today. It was his day after all, even more since he took care of everything to surprise Rory with the ceremony. The Chinese woman collapsed on the nearest chair and discreetly freed her feet from the high heel torture devices. She picked the roses adorning her raven hair and plunked them in the bouquet embellishing her table.

"That’s not very nice of you, destroying all the work Kathryn put in taming your hair." 

Phillip was smiling and she naturally mirrored his expression, standing to face him. 

"Shouldn’t you be dancing with the bride instead of thanking me for my participation ?" hinted Wei. She found herself wrapped in his embrace and the familiarity of the gesture let her relax against him. 

"Thank you for the coach and the horses, it was really fairytale-like and Rory was enchanted. It was perfect Mulan."  
"Will you ever stop with this stupid nickname ?" He had the nerve to laugh at that and pinched her cheek, causing her to wrinkle her nose. "Stop silly !"  
"I won’t. It’s your roommate’s fault anyway- so why are you threatening me with that knife ! Such a samoura— Aoutch ! It hurts !" Philipp protested.  
"It’s the flat of a butter knife, what are you fussing about? And you’re welcome, I wanted to surprise you as much as Rory with something original. It’s not often your best friend gets married, right ?"

She knew she would deny her wobbly voice if they talked about it later, but right now Wei couldn’t care less. She met penetrating cerulean eyes behind Philipp’ shoulders, causing her to close her own tightly, almost missing the tender kiss he dropped on her forehead. "You’re the best."  
"I know. Now, stop wasting my time and yours. Your wife seems to feel neglected."

He turned on his heel at her words, glowing when he spotted Aurora Briar, now Morris, grinning happily in their direction. "Your words are my command, Mulan."  
"二五子" She mouthed between clenched teeth.  
"Oh, I’m sure this one wasn’t nice." 

Wei rolled her eyes with pretend annoyance, watching him go back to the festivities. She was dreaming about returning early to her flat, which was impossible without being rude, and maybe relaxing in a hot bath with a book borrowed from her flatmate when a now familiar strident voice surprised her. 

"Oh my poor, poor dear, it must be so hard for you, watching them be this happy." 

Wei pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing heavily when the other woman took place next to her, the fluffy pink dress she wore tickling the skin of her own bare legs. She didn’t know Charlotte well, the woman working with Philipp’s wife, but she did know the blonde could be annoying and rather exhausting with her incessant blabber.

"Why would it be ? They’re both perfectly happy, look at them." They were. The couple was laughing and kissing, totally oblivious to the rest of the world. 

"Maybe. Well, that surely doesn’t change your feelings. You’re in love, aren’t you ?" The blonde was almost wolfish with her pointed nose and knowing smile and Wei crossed her arms, her delicate hands gripping her upper arms.  
"I’m not."  
"What ?!" Her eyes went comically wide. "Yes, you are. You can’t lie to me about that. I always know beforehand when there is love in someone’s heart." She pointed a meticulous pink nail at their left, indicating with everything but discretion a young black woman offering champagne glasses to the guests. "See Tania. Well, she’s in love. She just doesn’t know it yet or keep ignoring it because she’s always busy with her work. Working ! Working ! She always has to remind me of how much work she has and how she doesn’t have time for Naveen — there, the handsome chocolate god with the tray — and trust me, she has done that since forever ! We’ve known each other since we were 7, can you believe it ?!" Privately, Wei thought she hardly could, convinced she would have gone crazy by now. "So yes, she’s in love and she keeps ignoring me when I try to talk with her about confessing her feelings." Wei wasn’t surprised at all. She, too, wished it was possible to ignore the kind but nosy blonde. "And, well, I know that look on your face. She wears the same. He’s very cute, Phillip, with his brown eyes and his nice ass. It’s sad Aurora’s happiness took your man though, I heard you were long friends." 

Wei unfolded her arms and said, matter-of-fact:  
"It’s alright Charlotte. I told you, I’m not in love with him." 

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to calm her counterpart’s flow of words.

—

Piercing blue eyes were gazing at him.

It was unsettling, such insistence on this young face. Gold didn’t know her name yet, but she was certainly the younger element of his team of assistants, silently gathered in front of the massive maplewood desk his workplace possessed. Mrs. Potts, a middle-aged woman looking in her late sixties, with white streaking her hair, had been the first person to welcome him in his new home with a pile of folders. He hadn’t said a word since then, had not even recognized the existence of any of the four people watching him. He was actually reading about a certain David Nolan, when his first assistant came back in the room with the tea he’d asked for. He ignored the monotonous voice of Sidney Glass who served him a cup of Darjeeling, barely moving his eyes from his reading as he took a sip of his drink.

A strangled sound escaped him, his eyes shooting back to the man.

"Did you make this tea, Mr. Glass ?"

The modulated tone of his voice didn’t seem to appease the startled man who started to stutter.

"Don’t need to explain yourself, dearie. I have no use of an incompetent tea-maker stutterer in my office but you may want to leave." The toneless nature of his words belied his apparent smile as he pointed the door, cutting the man’s retorts. "Now."

The door slammed and Sidney Glass’ file was unceremoniously thrown to the trash. The Prime Minister steepled his fingers in front of him, toying with the tainted picture his subordinates must have of him.

"I’m aware the media tends to portray me— well, differently. You’ll have to learn quickly, I do not tolerate mistakes. Man or woman, old or young, poor or born from Zeus’s thigh, you must learn to fear failure." His tongue clucked. "That being said… Which one of you is able to make a decent tea ?" 

"I do." The young brunette was peering at him, unafraid of his wry expression. "Since you’re willing to put your job in jeopardy dearie, go on." Gold dismissed her reaction, focusing on the redhead’s resume, but he did hear her fast pace when she rushed outside the room. Six minutes later she was back, pouring a cup. On the seventh minute, he was blinking in surprise.

"What’s your name ?"  
"Isabelle French, sir."  
"Well, Miss French, you just have been promoted." 

—

" — and then, he just drank his damn tea and ignored us for the rest of the day !"

Wei sighed happily when her roommate lowered the unreachable zipper of her bridesmaid dress. Walking out of it in nothing but her underwear, she shivered and took gratefully the sweater Belle handed her. She went back to the Christmas tree, which had appeared miraculously during the day.  
When she got home after escaping the after-wedding party, Wei had expected to find her friend in her foolish pyjamas curled on the sofa with a book and a mug of tea, instead of fussing around a conifer at 1 in the morning. 

"If he chose, magnanimously," Belle said, cruelly impaling a small golden angel to one branch of the tree, "to acknowledge our existence, he was snapping at us and being a beast. He made Nova cry ! Three times ! I know I was complaining about not getting the job I was qualified for…"  
"But you’re finally doing what you wanted to do, and being a woman didn’t stop you."  
"I know Mulan ! I should be happy but he’s so—"   
"Wei."  
" — Insufferable without doing anything I swear it drives me crazy !"

She stopped hanging the red garland they didn’t possess this morning, a smug smile floating on her face. 

"You know you won’t stop me from calling you that anymore. Your mother shouldn’t have listened to your crazy grandma the day she named you Wei Hua." Belle smiled at her friend’s false sigh. "Come here and help me with the rest, you’re taller than me."

Knowing she couldn’t win, Wei picked up the other end of the garland and finished placing it. Belle nodded happily and gave her a set of lights to arrange.

"I keep whining about my day but how was yours ? You must have been comfortable, parading in high heels in front of every guest. I do know your love for them !" 

Wei snorted at her friend’s quip, conscientiously arranging some ribbons in perfect bows on random branches’ extremities.

"It was great."  
"Oh yes, I can hear that in your tone. Didn’t they enjoy the surprise ? Or maybe someone interrupted in a ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ kind of way ?"

She giggled but Wei could feel her intense gaze scanning her face for clue to her real feelings.

"They stopped asking that stupid question long ago. What did you expect, someone coming on her white horse and kidnapping the bride ?"

Belle carefully ignored her friend’s slip of tongue and held hers, choosing instead to joke and stay silent about her friend’s unrequited four year long crush.

"You know I enjoy a good story with a good twist. Far off place, daring sword fights, magic spells or prince in disguise, every tale is worth reading !"  
"Well, it never happened outside your book Belle, you should know that by now."  
"Yes…" She went in the kitchen to take a chair and moved it in front of the tree, tiptoeing to hang the decoration on the top. Wei was observing her, vigilantly watching her roommate and her legendary precarious balance in action. 

"You’re going to kill yourself one day."  
"Hush you !" Belle said, admiring their work with satisfaction. "It looks perfect !" 

She started yawing and winced. Her eyes quickly wandered to the microwave clock when she heard the police car sirens. Living near a police station could seem reassuring in a city like London but truly, most of the time it annoyed Belle. 1:47. 

"I hate you."  
"What have I done this time ?" Inquired Wei.  
"You don’t have to get up at 5 and spend an hour in transport to crawl back to the Beast’s lair at 7."  
"Since he loves tea so much, why don’t you tame the Beast with some if you can’t handle it ?"  
"I can !" She paused briefly. "I hope I do. He can’t be worse than today even if he gets up on the wrong side of the bed, right?"  
"You’ll have to figure it out. But, if he’s grumpy without a good cup of tea you could find something to calm his nerves."  
"The Rabbit Hole ?"  
"Of course."  
"Hm… I’ll see what I can do, thanks !"

—

In the end, Belle followed Mulan’s advice. On her third day of work, she brought a little gift to her boss, who brushed her off like she was nothing more than some useless instrument, of course.

"You already got the promotion, dearie. No need for gifts, pretexts and sexual advances I assure you."

She almost slapped him, face flushing with anger and embarrassment. Convinced to be the mature one, she closed the door of his office, not ready to be yelled at in front of her co-workers wandering in the mansion. She took a deep breath before returning to him, the sound of her heels against the wooden floor following her progression to his imposing desk. Belle didn’t stop though, ignoring the natural shield behind which Gold loved to hide. His brown eyes went wide but the surprise was masked so quickly Belle doubted she had been seeing things right. After all why would he show any reactions to her presence ? They had spent these last days in an uncomfortable silence instilled by his cold behaviour. She was of little use to him, for he didn’t trust her with his work and never had she felt angrier at someone for ignoring her.  
All she was doing was dusting around and taking his phone calls when he wasn’t there. She barely had access to his agenda; in fact, the stubborn man kept his treasured schedule close to his chest in some hidden pocket of his vest. She was scarcely a mere secretary but he wasn’t inaccessible and she would prove it.  
Belle smiled kindly.

"Why don’t you open it ? Are you afraid Mr. Gold ?"  
" Afraid? What could possibly be frightening ?" 

The man was strange. His look of total mistrust directed at her when he put down one of the newspapers he asked for every day and the way he finally took the wrapped present between unsure hands left Belle perplexed. She assumed acts of kindness weren’t often spent on him and almost joked the box was unlikely to blow up in his face. She thought better than that. The brunette observed his unexpected tenderness, ripping with delicate hands the blue and gold paper hiding a tea-calendar Alice and Jefferson, old friends of hers, invented and started selling a few weeks ago for Christmas.

"I know it’s not Christmas yet and probably don’t you even care for some employee’s misplaced attention," prompted Belle, trying to justify herself quickly when confronted with his blunt silence, "but since I owe my promotion to your unexpected love for tea I thought—"

She thought it would be a good idea. Visibly, she was wrong as he clenched another journal in his grip, The Guardian this time, his eyes reading about the strange death of some employee to not meet her eyes.

"I have no need, nor do I care for soluble instant tea molded in a fashion design. I take my tea the traditional way : loose leaves in a tea pot. You have been promoted, as you said, because of my love of tea. Why risk being fired for bringing me something that doesn't fit my needs ?"

Belle hated being so anxious around him. She prided herself to be in control, but something about Gold brought out the impulsive girl who burned herself too many times in the past. There was no other way she could explain why she didn’t back off at his comment like a sane person wishing to keep their job would have done.

"Maybe because the ‘traditional’ and ‘old’ ways need sometimes to be updated ? Maybe trying something new could actually please you. There is more than your idea of doing things right, even if the subject is tea. But don’t be so afraid Mr. Gold, I’m not trying to poison you here."

She could feel he wasn’t happy with her and was going to yell or worse, fire her. Carefully taking the present from his hands before he threw it away, or at her, she was reassured when he didn’t snap for their sudden proximity and accidentally touching him. Instead, when her fingers brushed against his, he leant backward and grabbed his expensive Montblanc pen, choosing to ignore her in favor of his paperwork. Belle noted his hands weren’t as smooth she would have thought someone of his position to have. They were large hardworking hands, lovingly calloused and a bit weathered. She thought she would love to know the story behind the little scar she spotted on his right knuckle when a loud cough tore Belle out of her thoughts.

"I’ll be back with your tea."  
"I would greatly appreciate it." The man grunted, glancing at her. "Don’t forget: no milk, no sugar—"   
"And just a touch of honey, yes."

Her eyes crinkled at his displeased sound and she chuckled when his fingers drummed in frustration even if it made Belle vanish quickly from the room for fear of reprisal. She probably should stop cutting him off midsentence but the honest surprise leaving Gold open-mouthed and stupefied was her only reward during her working hours. Mustn’t be used to people being anything but obedient. It displeased her to take joy in his discomfort but the new Prime Minister wasn’t doing anything to change her mind. She snapped from her thoughts when she burnt herself because of her distraction. The small kitchenette was lovely, and soon the water finished boiling while Belle looked for some biscuits to serve. She picked the worst ones, knowing her boss’ hidden sweet tooth. Maybe will she change her mind and bring the delightful little cookies she knew were in the cupboard the day he’ll stop acting like an insupportable idiot and more like a decent human being, or at least, superior.

 

She came back to his office, a fuming teapot made with the daily calendar leaf, its little assorted cups and cookies on a tray, as silent as a mouse not to bother Gold’s work. Belle took a cup, poured some tea, no milk, honey, and blended, observing him from the corner of her eyes. He was paying no attention to her again, and Belle knew this uncomfortable situation would continue if she didn’t find a way to break the glass. Another cup was filled then, and Belle calmly sat in front of her boss after serving him his own.

"What exactly do you think you’re doing dearie ?" said Gold.  
"As I recall, you invited me to drink with you. A little gesture of thank for the new set of tea I kindly offered you. Cookies ?" He’ll have to understand she wouldn’t be scared easily.  
"I didn’t."  
"You must have forgotten then." She took a sip, smiling behind the gold rim of her white and blue fine cup. "Thank you for the invitation Mr. Gold, it’s very generous of you."

He wanted to say something, Belle could tell, twist her words and mock her maybe, but in the end he didn’t. They stayed in an almost comfortable silence for a while, the young woman observing Gold’s absent look while he read the news and drank his tea. She was reading upside down, leaning on the desk to get a better look at the words when his voice startled her. Her eyes detached from the words to meet Gold’s deep brown and far warmer than she thought from afar. Moving back on her chair to leave space between them, she awkwardly rubbed her nose. His cologne smelt good.

“I suppose I could humor you. “  
“Pardon? “

He wasn’t looking at her and if she was brave, Belle would have qualified him shy in this instant. 

“Since you bought this tea we should drink it. I don’t like wasting.“

Obviously, it was too hard for him to just admit he liked the quality of tea despite its incongruous presentation. The brunette didn’t reply, trying to catch his eyes and when she did, simply served him another cup, the corners of her lips slightly raised. Maybe the following months wouldn’t be so horrid as she first thought.

“Of course. Only fools don’t change their mind after all.“

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thank you for reading !  
> For the curious people out there, "二五子" means approximately "Evil Traitor" in chinese.  
> I'll probably expend this verse since I covered only a short part of the movie and two couples !


End file.
